New-York tribune., 1887-12-11
HUNDREDS OF BODIES BURNT
CREMATION's STEADY PROGRESS HERE.
RAPIDLY COMING INTO GENERAL PRACTICE IN
ITALY-I,N APHROYEn Tile HOLY SEE.

|
construction. Cremation societies now exist In most
| OF the States and Territories. In some European
countries, Italy for example, there is scarcely city
without one. When once society has been forhlcd,
the erection Of crcmatory becomes simply question
OF time, two three years at the outside To those
who recall the perfect storm Of opposition that tho
first proposal revive this ancient custom raised,
this progress appears remarkable. 1t seems so even
to many advocates Of the movement, who realizing
how dccprooted were tho peudces against the system
and how radical the change that tho idea OF cre'
nation involved. felt that tho day Of its practical
adoption, In even limited way, was far distant Yet,
despite IT'S nauspclous beginning the strong senti-
men against II and the many serious obstacles In lts
way tho reform has already obtained firm footing
I'm this country and in the Old World. The outlook
for II was never so favorable as at present
| When tho NcwYork Cremation Society was Or
canizcd in 1881, there were only four crcmatores
in existence at Washington, Penn, and three In
Europe Tho total number OF incncratons at the four
did not then exceed two hundred In Europe there
are oday twenty-five crcmatorics. London. Paris,
brussels Rome Dresden Gotha Florence, Copenhagen,
Milan, Lodi, Cremona, Buscla Padua, Undina Narese,
| Norara. Livorno. Pisa SpcrzIa Padova Como and
Alexandra, each has and In several other places
whore cremation societies exist, active preparations
| arc being made put tho theory into practice.
II Will be noticed that majority of these crc-
| matOrcs are Ia Italy. There the reform seems 10
be rapidly coming into general practice. About ono
thousand bodies have already been burned there, and
one half OF these at Milan Between one and two
hundred have been incinerated in Rome, almost under
| the shadow Of the Vatican. And here 1t may be re-
married. that although the Catholic Church. as Cardinal
| Gibbons declared tho other day IS opposed to THIS
Of dSposlnc Of the dead yet some Of It's leading
thcologlans have declared that the practice IS not
| hcrcticaL
| CATHOLIC PRIESTS WHOSE BODIES WERE BURNED.
Able Buccetati. professor of Catholic theology at
| Uad ofo
This conclusion and did not hesitate to publish his
views Moreover. the bodies Of at least two priests
have been reduced to ashes at the Milan ccmatory,
Catholic clcrgymcn Officiating at the incincration'
| The names OF the priests crcmatcd were tho Rev
| Giovanni Sartoro. September 16, 1854, and Mon
slcnor Savl the chaplain of the Italian Court, whose
| body was burned I'm December of the same year
Another country In which the reform finds great
| favor IS Germany. At the Crcmaiory at Gotha "h'h
! was opencd about nine years ago, over five hnnhred
! bodies have been lnclnrracd During the last year
petition for the Introduction Of the system, containing
! % 3Gj signatures, was laid before the ReichNiag
| Among the names on this list wcrc thos" OF 1oi2
physicians. 1.OiG lawyers and professors Nio sch"o
masters and 1.O1J Government officers. The rest con
sisted OF representatives from every branch Of trade
Public interest in cremation has long been a"ahch'i
In France II has resulted at last I'm the erection ol
n handsome and commodious crcmatory in the Perc
| La Chase Cemetery AT Paris. pr Hroaidci I'D
his report Of this Institution, estimates tha' 'Ic
frn,rcs VIII be able to consume 100 bodies annually,
about tho average number Of corpS'' that Leave 'f
! Par, hospitals during the year The Cremation OH
which provide, for the burning of the public d'ad
has already passed the Chamber OF Deputies and Is
now before the senate II Will probably become
law The cremation movement has only fally begun
| To grow IN EuEitnl II, inception there was ~
tc god by several unfortunate eli u nccs. Nn'h
! as the mcmeratlon Of Lady Dixie, Parliamentary op
! position. strong religious rather supersutiouS
preiuiicc ,nd ihrr 'ngs tru impcdcd f., proei '"S
! most scrlou,ly \ more favorable change has set in
however. and leaders II the reform Ike sir Henry
Thompson. the Ecy. IT, h. TIawcS. Sir John Payfair
aud others are conf lent that success IS now only
| question Of time.
DISAPPOINTING ITS ENEMIES IL ANErGCA.
| Opponents. and even some friends of cremation
| have said that the movement would not likely ma
much favor In this country, so long as there was
abundance Of land for cemeteries and huryng grouhu'
That these Views mistaken Is shown by the la't
that thcr, are already twenty cremation societies IN
the United states AMI rcarly half Of them have pun
| their principles into practice. Besides the ctrma'"ry
at Fresh Pond thcrc are Institutions AT Washington
! PENNSYLVANIA. Bunao. Pittsburg Lancaster, Cincln
| natl and Detroit Others are being erected IN
! phnadcIphia Baltimore. san Francisco. 81 Louis. san
! Antonio louisville. and Davenport. Iowa N INC
Washington. Penn. cicmaiory. "llch has ue'h ''"-
porarly closed account Of the death of us oWU'r'
Dr. Ic Noyue thirty seven tcllcs have been crema' q.
! Abopt donilc that number have bcon burned at Ian
caster I'm three years The first cremation at Buffalo
! took place ON December D. l-75. since then about
! twenty five ucn'I alton, have been made MI Lam
| SON. natural "A, crcmaory I'm piu,hurS has only
been opcncd about "A year and hall, but upward OF
thirty bod.c, have already been burned th'r' Tie
! Cincinnati and Detroit crcmatorlcS have only been
| opened a short time. A. can be learned they
have had thus far about a dozen incineiaton''
But none Of these establishments has met with
the success that has attended the crcma'oly Mfre'h
Pond which was opened to the public two years ago
In that time 20 has mclncratcd one hundred and thirty
nine bodies and has about dozen more applications
an hand OF ihr., ninety three the bodies of men
aud forty i've those of women SNiy- were h"'
tlvcs Of Germany FORTY seven of the med N'ac''
eight Of France; six Of England three of Austria
and one from each Of the following countries: scot
land Ireland India. Hungary and sutherland Inc
lis, comprised representative, of almost all professions
trades and mercantile pursuits
ONE or us ". st EARNEST ADVOCATES.
OF the many able and earnest advocates that ere
nation has In thi, country. none has done more 10
further is success than Augustus c. Cobb formerly
president Of the cremation company Of this rity MI
cobb IS lawyer 10y proteSSion but retired rom
practice some years ago ana now lives at Iarryi"Wh
a ouiet literary nfc which a comfortable income
enables him to do In n most satisfactory way HIS
interest in the cremation movement drew MN on
Of hi, sccluslon, but, soon as the company "m'h
he helped to organize had been placed on a success
ful basis he retired from its active management but
with no less interest in the reform Itself
eyes cremation Is making steady progress he
said recently I'm discussing the matter indeed
when wo consider the character of the movement ana
ia, radical changes Il involves We might with fair
ness say that It going ahead In remarkable way
How do account for this Well, the forclble reason
in my Judgment, IS that people are beginning To
understand that the dl, posa of the dead IS sanitary
not a religious question. II Is matter concerning
the health and welfare OF the living Oh, yes, l
know the charge IS frequently made that 1t Is
heothen custom, supported entirely by unheuevcrS
and arnostcs, and in conflict with Christianity. 10
This | say It males difference who practisod IT, /
ono might as consistently call earth burial heather
cn.to,, hccausc the Chinese bury, to call Gre |